The Chan and Sukamaran families have made a heartfelt plea for clemency to Indonesian President Joko Widodo in a desperate race against time.

In her first interview on Indonesian television Sukumaran’s mother, Raji Sukumaran said her son deserved a second chance, insisting he’d been rehabilitated,

“I don’t want them to execute my son. He has done a lot of good things, he is a good person, he is a changed person and I am begging the president not to execute him, to give him another chance, for him to stay in the prison and continue to do all the good things he is doing.”

“As a family we feel embarrassed because this has happened … we know it has caused a lot of shame for Indonesia and we apologise,” Mr. Chan said.

Despite the families’ pleas the head of the Bali Prosecutor’s office, Momock Bambang Samiarso said preparations were continuing for their isolation holding cells on Nusa Kambangan Island and once ready, they would be immediately transferred there in preparation for their execution,

“As soon as they ready, we send. We are ready. Soon. The sooner the better,” said at his office this morning.

The duo will be executed alongside eight other drug traffickers, nine of which are foreign nationals.

Prime minister Tony Abbott spoke with the Indonesian President, describing the opportunity to discuss the duo as ‘a positive sign’, and said that he believed President Widodo was “carefully considering” his position.

Sukamaran’s parents and siblings have been in Bali for a month, while Andrew Chan’s parents made the heartbreaking decision to say goodbye to Andrew, perhaps for the last time, leaving Bali due to ill health.